I had hoped to see a lot more chatter about this serial number on a Singer Model 66. I guess everyone is just slack-jawed like me. I don’t know what to make of it either, except to remind Gail that she may have a real rarity there, or at the least an oddity, and that she would be wise to hang on to it.

When I reviewed the “G” serial number chart, I couldn’t explain away the serial number at all. I can’t see a shadow of a partial letter ahead of the multiple-stamped digits, but if there was a “G” under the first “8” (G89955), the number was supposed to be assigned to a 1910 Model 15. If the “G” was missing from in front of the first “8” (G889955), the number was supposed to be assigned to a 1910 Model 27. To go a bit further, since we can see the 889955, and speculate that the “G” had been omitted ahead of the visible numbers, and that 3 of those “8” numbers count (G8889955), that number was supposed to have been assigned to a 1921 Model 66. When I went through the rest of the available charts for other single leading letters, I didn’t find another combination that could work, if the first “8” is stamped over the single letter.

So it seems that it may or may not be simply a missing or covered “G”. The machine is not one of the earlier Model 66 machines, because it has a side-mount foot (that could have been changed along the line somewhere), and it has a hand crank boss on the pillar (that very doubtfully could have been changed along the line somewhere).

With those features in mind, I would suggest that the machine was made sometime after 1912, and sometime before 1925, so the G8889955 could actually work. But wouldn’t it be a kick if that machine was a prototype for the change-over to the Model 66 casting with the hand crank boss on it? Could the casting for the original machine 889955 (Model 27) have gotten damaged during production and discarded, so then the number was used for an experimental casting of the “new & improved” Model 66 casting?

Holy Cow! You really did some research on it. I wonder if it would be worth writing the Singer Company to see if they could shed some light. I know that the Singer Featherweights have two badge numbers. One visible and one hidden under the column of the machine. I had hoped that maybe this machine had something similar.

I think I will try writing Singer and see if they can help with this mystery. I snagged this machine on eBay for $105. I used esnipe to get it to. I wondered if I had paid too much but given the condition of the machine, I have no regrets.